Tag Archives: Strat

Is there a word for the internet version of window-shopping? I certainly have enough guitars. I really dig my oddball collection. But, I’m always looking. I made a wishlist before, so I thought I’d update it. Of course, this list is subject to change by the minute, and like a rodent with shiny objects I can be easily distracted.

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Traveler Guitar Travelcaster – It’s no secret that I dig weird guitars. This is pretty neat. I love the idea, even if ESP had it first. Supposedly, the ESP ones were only made & sold in Japan. The Traveler Travelcasters look pretty snazzy, and Traveler makes some other really cool stuff. I bet it really would be useful in a travel capacity, & provide some fun on stage. I see these ads constantly.

Bohemian Guitars Oil Can Guitar – Who doesn’t want one? It’s like a cigar box guitar cranked up to 11. They look like a ton of fun, and they’re not really all that expensive. These Boho axes are real attention grabbers. I also see these ads constantly. The reviews appear to be fanrastic.

A Millennium Falcon Guitar – There have been various builders to create this to varying degrees of success. I’d love to get my scruffy nerf-herding paws on one. I even blogged about it before (check the comments). You know I have an appreciation of weird guitars and of Star Wars, so this is a natural. Bonus if it includes lights and sounds!

Peavey T-60 – These Peaveys seem like a sort of underground or unspoken holy grail, especially if you get the amp in a case. The T-30 and T-15 look cool to, but I dig humbuckers. so 60 may be the way to go. Hell, a Peavey Mantis would kick some butt too.

Gibson Reverse Flying V – I mean, I already have a Dewey Decibel FlipOut, so why not continue the trend? This one will probably never happen unless I win the lottery. I like my guitars cheap, and this one is not cheap. Epiphone, how about a limited run here? The hate for it online alone drives my want for it.

Archer Flying Cheese Wedge– This thing is absolutely ridiculous. I love it. If I ever found a cheap one, I would pounce. I mean, CHEESE. Who doesn’t like cheese (besides the lactose intolerant)? I think it has something to do with Wisconsin sportsball. I just like cheese. A lot.

Hello Kitty Squier Stratocaster – This is another gem sought after by a bunch of weirdos. The quality is the stuff of legend if you can snag it for the right price. They were cheap for a bit until someone let out the secret they they’re no joke.

Gianni SG/Tele-style doubleneck – As with Bigfoot, some people refuse to believe that these even exist. The cries of “fake” and “photoshopped” abound with this type of axe online. It is ridiculous. Really, I don’t have a double-neck. I need one, right? I do have a 12 string… so a 6/12 would be boring. I would love to get one of these and make one neck a baritone or Bass VI scale. I mean, this is cool too if we’re getting really weird.

One of those goofy Zakk Wylde guitars – Any of the trifecta of insanity will do. The Gibson ZV, the Dean Split Tail, and the Wylde Audio Warhammer are all sort of the same shape. I don’t know the story behind the jumps from manufacturers, and I don’t really care. They are so metal, it hurts. I play so poorly for metal, it hurts. So, it’s a natural fit of pain. Right? Right? This may have trumped my old longing for a Transparent Green Lucite BC Rich.

Xaviere RTS_550SCE_BK Dreadnaught – This is all cosmetic. I just really dig the look. Plus, I really dig Guitar Fetish. I might even sell the 12-string to get this. Maybe? Anyone heard anything about the quality? I really like the look and sort of want to jump before they’re gone. I mean, if I sell the 12-string… that opens up my double-neck options. Right?

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What’ on your list? Gimme something awesome in the comments, bonus points for sub-$300-ish. What haven’t I heard of yet? What am I forgetting? What need to I need to meet or gap do I need to fill? What is your holy grail guitar? Post some photo or links too!

Like this:

Narrator: “Up next on Guitar Hoarders; Jim, 48, a self-professed ‘Blues Lawyer’ from Oaklahoma is going through a divorce due to his recent failure to remove 27 partscasters from his bathroom, leaving his soon-to-be-ex-wife to do her business in the rose bushes out back.”

Narrator: “Jim’s wife, Tonya, thought the rented apartment two towns over was for another woman, but it was way worse than she could have imagined. It was full of Chibsons and falsely advertised ‘Lawsuit Era’ LP copies that were actually nothing of the sort.”

Tonya: “I wish his browser history had said PornHub or RedTube, but no… it was all Reverb, eBay, ShopGoodwill, Craigslist, and the lowest of the low… local & national guitar forums on Facebook!

Don’t even get me started on LetGo and OfferUp. I wish I had found Tinder or even Grinder. That, I could deal with.”

Narrator: “Tonya did at least see a bright side to all of the madness.”

Tonya: “I mean, I guess at least it wasn’t Reddit.”

Jim: “I guess I don’t need that many guitars. I mean, I don’t get to play as often as I like. Most of my time is spent online explaining to n00bz how tone wood makes a huge difference, why I think Gibson is overrated and how they have gone downhill, the best types of wood for a fretboard, you know… the important stuff. There are some real idiots out there. How can you have fun if you’re not getting the best possible tone from your fingers?”

Narrator: “Jim is seemingly unaware that he has a problem.”

Jim: “GAS? No, never heard of it. Wait, is that the psychobilly jam-band that plays every open stage night at Free Beer Tomorrow over in Tulsa? No?

Anyway, did you know that Slash’s Les Paul that he used on Appetite for Destructionwasn’t even a Gibson? And now they endorse him? I mean. If you don’t know that, you shouldn’t even be allowed to play Guitar Hero.”

Tonya: “I’m currently living with my sister. Her husband plays the bass, so he can’t afford to have a hoarding problem.”

Jim: “That guy? He doesn’t even know the difference between active and passive pickups. Heh.”

Narrator: “At this time, Jim refuses counseling. He thinks they can work it out.”

Jim: “I was teaching her how to play, but Mel Bay is so dumb. We re-started with a ‘Top 50 riffs of all time’article form an old guitar magazine out of my pile. I mean, there are only 8 notes, right? Or is it 12?

I was trying to tell these guys at the county fair that they were playing the riff for ‘Lay Down Sally’ wrong, but you just can’t tell some people things. I have a tabographic memory. That’s where you can instantly remember every guitar tab that you have ever seen.”

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TLC, I have another TV show for you. This is a comment from a guitar group gone awry because I amuse myself way too much. Who wants to do a YouTube sketch comedy show for a very specific audience?

Like this:

So, I’ve been really bad at blogging lately. It’s not that I don’t have anything to blog about, it’s mostly that I’m not finding much time to do it. I did have someone recently contact me with a complaint thinking I’m some entity… not sure who they thought. I wrote back to no avail. I think it was a dud. I may try again to get a response, maybe I’ll even post something.

Mainly, it’s because of a new job. I’m not tied to a desk with a few spare minutes or even with lunch time at the desk. Now, I’m on the road & in the field all day. When I get home, I don’t seem to gravitate right to blogging or my news feed.

I never did finish my New York Pro guitar… well, I did route out the pickguard with a Dremel set that my mom gave me, and eventually got the neck plate off, but I had my guitar guy put it all back together. If you need work done in the Pittsburgh area, let me know and I’ll send you to the right cat for repairs, setups, and even guitar insanity which is generally all I ever have for him (e.g. the Batman logo guitar went from goofy to absolutely playable in his hands). It looks ridiculous, plays like a dream, and screams through the amplifier like you wouldn’t believe. GFS pickups rule.

At first, it made me laugh and think “humph, yeah…” in agreement. The more I thought about it though… it’s wrong. How is it wrong?

Well as far as concept cars go, it’s a whole different world from everyday-use practical cars. Nothing has gone all that far from 4 wheels, 2 headlights, gasoline powered. (Yes, there are hybrids and flex-fuel all over the market… but arguably people don’t like them unless they look like “normal” cars.) But, this blog isn’t about cars. I’m sure you knew I was going to talk guitars, because that’s what I do.

I agree that too many axe-slingers fall into the Stratocaster or Les Paul shape trap. For years I held a disdain for both shapes… but I come back to them. Why? Perhaps they’re good designs. Perhaps they’re iconic. Perhaps they sound incredible. Perhaps they work. There aremany other options out there. If you find yourself chuckling to and agreeing with this graphic, I challenge you to help me to add to my list of innovative guitars.

Let’s talk about how the guitar is ever-evolving… Shape, materials, string count, innovation, & general insanity.

Indy Custom Flycaster (or Tele-V?)

There are lots of shapes out there past the Stratocaster or Les Paul, whether it’s somewhat normal or custom insanity. There’s the SG, the Telecaster, V’s (Flying, Jackson & more), hollowbodies like the Artcore or Gretsch models, the Explorer, the Ravelle, all the crazy B.C. Rich shapes, the Airline, even the Flycaster. Are there really not enough guitar design shapes out there to satisfy you? The Stratocaster doesn’t need to change shape, because there are plenty of other options out there! I’m barely hitting the tip of the iceberg here. I didn’t even touch on my B.B. Stone, FlipOut, or Batman axes. How many distinct guitar shapes can you name in the comments? (Actual produced shapes, not one-offs!) Bonus for posting or linking to photos.

So, next time you think that the guitar has become stagnant, I ask you to go get your hands one one of the many non Strat options above… or even a non-standard Strat option… like a Fat Strat, hot-rodded wiring, or a backwards one. There are plenty of different, innovative, and goofy guitars out there. Rock out on something original!

Like this:

So, this past weekend, I finally got a chance to work on customizing my New York Pro, I thought I’d get a bunch of it done all at one time. Well, I hit a roadblock or two as I was taking it all apart. (Of course.)

Once I got my work bench set up on the basement, taking everything apart was quite easy. I just took out all the hardware, and when I went to line up the new pickguard, it didn’t fit. It’s really close, but it doesn’t fit. I’m going to have to file or cut or sand or Dremel or some combination of all of the above.

It’s not the same…

The holes in the pickguard aren’t going to lineup with the screws, either. I’m going to have to maybe 2-sided tape it in place to mark all the holes once I get it cut right. I have no experience taking apart guitars, but it’s odd that the neck doesn’t fit “perfectly” into the body. There’s a weird gap there. It’s also easy to tell (now) that the old pickguard has been cut. There are some other spots where it doesn’t quite line up. I hope I don’t have to route anything out where the pickups go. I got them all from the same place, so I hope not.

Also, I thought I was taking the neck plate off… but it wasn’t having it:

That’s supposed to come off when you take the screws out…

Help?

It’s stuck. I feel like it’s glued on or was put on before the stain dried? I bought all black hardware, including a neck plate. Should I try to get this one off, or just let it go? I even tried to pop it off using a screwdriver through the 5th larger hole… all to no avail.

Any advice on that one?

If you’re interested in checking out my progress, take a look at the Photobucket album that’s my attempt to chronicle the whole thing. (Or, sit through this slideshow…)